Morning Call Sheet: Superman, Perry White, Raymond and Bad Movies with the Word 'Green' In the Title

The folks behind “Tea Party: The Documentary Film” have started a new project with C.L. Bryant, a one-time NAACP leader who saw the light and moved to the right. The concept sounds fascinating:

Follow C.L. as he traces the footsteps of runaway slaves through the Underground Railroad. He travels into the heart of Black communities across the US from the slave ports of New Orleans to Chicago’s Cabrini Green to Martin Luther King’s birthplace, Atlanta, on to Jefferson’s Monticello; the film explores how 95% support of the Democratic Party has impacted the Black community.

You can learn more about the film, see the trailer, and choose to support the film here. Well worth a look.

For my money, Michael Rapaport is one of the most under-used and under-appreciated actors out there. He’s loaded with a personality that pops off the screen, has his own comedic sensibility, and is a very good actor.

It’s always good news when Rapaport is attached to something and if you want to know when I became a fan, check out the 1996 masterpiece “Beautiful Girls” — an amazing ensemble comedy directed by the late, great Ted Demme and co-starring a young Natalie Portman at her most charming. The dialogue is quotable, the themes mature, and Rapaport steals every scene he’s in.

A movie no one liked that underperformed at the box office is worthy of serious talk surrounding another.

Why not make New Coke 2?

Hollywood, however, can’t let go of a brand name or concept. There are so few of those and even fewer original ideas, so something like an expensive flop isn’t going to dissuade anyone from pushing forward.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

The Green Hornet (2011): This is where Netflix is dangerous. The service is so cheap (until next month) you end up taking chances you normally wouldn’t, and boy did I pay for that luxury last night.

This isn’t even a movie. It’s an ego-boost for Seth Rogen who apparently thought a nonsensical plot wrapped around his “brilliant” improvisational skills would be awesome.

You keep waiting for Rogen’s character to grow up, waiting for that moment when he stops being a jerk-off with daddy issues and starts to take his responsibilities seriously and like a man as opposed to a man-child. Maybe he does, eventually. I don’t know. I only lasted an hour. The story exhausted me with the forced pointlessness of it all.

What a waste of Edward James Olmos and Christopher Waltz — who delivers the film’s only good scene. His opening confrontation with James Franco is terrific.

Friday night I shut Nic Cage’s putrid “Drive Angry” off after only 15 minutes. As someone who’s ridiculously easy to please when it comes to the motion picture, someone who ALWAYS hung in there to the end, this new trend in movies so bad you can’t finish them is only getting worse.

Superb adaptation with an unforgettable final scene that lingers long after the film ends. Not one of Frank Capra’s best known films, but certainly one of his best. The story holds your attention from beginning to end and the cast is first-rate — as is the production design.